Mothership v. Satellite Forum

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Mothership v. Satellite

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:13 pm

For those of us primarily targeting one market, it would be great to hear some pros and cons for working at a larger HQ office vs a smaller satellite for an out-of-town firm.

I recently had a cb at a firm that ticks all my boxes for practice area / pay / work-life-barf, but it came up a few times during the interview about the 2nd fiddle vibe of being at a prominent satellite office (about 80-100 attorneys, while the HQ is like 3 or 4 times larger). One mid-level associate mentioned the added difficulty of making partner at a satellite (she described it as "the impossibility"), which wasn't something I had considered before (nor do I consider partnership viable anywhere, but I digress). Obviously there seems to be a prestige factor attached to large HQ's, but how does this play out on a practical level? Is there any advantage to being at a satellite? Just curious to tap the hivemind for insight; apologies if this has been asked before, but I didn't find it in the 12 seconds I spent searching.

Anonymous User
Posts: 432540
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Mothership v. Satellite

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:17 pm

There are pros and cons to being at a HQ: I've heard it is definitely easier to make partner at an HQ, and larger/more prominent projects and work tend to flow from the HQ, making it easier to get on those projects if you want. BUT being at an HQ can also mean being under greater scrutiny, ending up on more/bigger projects, resulting in being more overworked than those at satellite offices. I am sure this differs firm to firm so reach out to someone at the firm you had the CB with and pick their brain on this issue politely.

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